cons, museums, shows – Powers of Creation

To the Barbie exhibit at NYS Museum, Albany, NY: 03/13-03/15/2026!: Black Dragon Antiques and various 1:6 scale acquisitions

March 18, 2026 ModernWizard 1 Comment

Finishing our tour of the museum in midafternoon with aching feet and a need to sit, we went back to the inhospitable hotel, deposited dolls and stuff there, patronized Amped Coffeehouse to have a snack, and then drove to Black Dragon Antiques in Ballston Spa. This one-woman operation specializes in midcentury modern furniture and Persian rugs. Lyra, who has some experience with antiques including dolls and rugs, wanted to purchase a rug for the ground floor of her condo. I agreed to accompany her because I thought that, if rug shopping bored me, I could look at interesting antiques.

First we stood around for a half an hour, watching the owner and her assistant unearth area rugs from a pile about twenty deep, show them to a couple, and discuss their merits. I was fascinated because the owner knew what she was talking about. Eventually they chose a rug, had it tied up, and took it home.

Then the owner did the same with Lyra, peeling possible choices out of a pile, reeling off their measurements [which she could apparently eyeball—very impressive], and debating the attractions of the design and color scheme. Lyra found a long runner rug and a smaller one.

I didn’t take any pictures of the rugs, but I did photograph these wonderfully fetishy Erte prints. I like the one on the left best. It reminds me of bondage with beads or something. Orientalism meets Art Nouveau meets beaded shibari or something.

To the Barbie exhibit at NYS Museum, Albany, NY: 03/13-03/15/2026!: Ebru’s antecedents as a doll

March 18, 2026 ModernWizard No Comments

We drove into Albany and parked very near the Empire State Plaza. Interestingly, the whole Empire State Plaza tries to hide much of the parking and shopping underground so that, aboveground, one primarily encounters the plain concrete plaza with reflecting pools and various planted trees.

From the plaza arise various skyscrapers characterized by vertical vent-like divisions that extend the full height and make them look kind of like the back ends of really tall air conditioners. Most of the skyscrapers are anchored at one end with huge rectangular tablets of white stone, clad in large square tiles. The tablets, about one-third the width of the skyscrapers, extend several stories above the skyscrapers’ roofs themselves and make me think of very very large elevator shafts. Some of the skyscrapers are actually on legs [actually just narrower parts of the buildings] so that one can walk through a one- or two-story arch underneath them. The arches underneath give the massive buildings an unusual, startling sense of lightness.

We went into the concourse under the plaza and looked at some of the public art installations while waiting for the New York State Museum to open. Then we hung around outside the doors to the museum, which, being under an archway, exposed us to a wind tunnel of damp, cold early spring air. We finally escaped inside a little before 9:30 AM and took some pictures in and around a lifesize [meaning 75% the size of a real car] Barbie car with us and our dolls.

The exhibit about Barbie dolls was okay. I didn’t learn anything from it that I didn’t already know, and the accompanying text mostly just praised Mattel as an innovative toy company and Barbie as an influential fashion icon. I particularly liked the display cases showing human-size fashions next to doll-size fashions inspired by them. I also noted that most of the dolls came from a collector’s private collection because Mattel did not have archives of past drafts and products during its first years. With so much to look at, I mostly just absorbed the sights of the displays, though I did take a picture of Ebru, a Black Barbie doll, sitting on the case of the first Black Barbie doll, who came out in like 1980 or something.

I much preferred the exhibit entitled “Hats of the Great Migration,” though it was more accurately an exhibition of fancy hats worn by powerful and influential Black church women in the Albany area in the latter half of the twentieth century. The single display case [I wish the exhibit had been more extensive] showed maybe twenty-five hats, each corresponding to a picture of the owner. A short description of the owner’s church-related activism often included a quote by the person or by a family member. I was especially pleased that several hats belonged to women who were still alive and carrying on the tradition of showing of their power, autonomy, fashion, and individuality through their Sunday best clothes.

To the Barbie exhibit at NYS Museum, Albany, NY: 03/13-03/15/2026!: Latham 76 Diner [not really]

March 18, 2026 ModernWizard No Comments

I met Lyra in Rutland, and we took her car to Albany. We drove on Route 4 West through a few towns, crossing into New York from Fair Haven into Hampton, then hitting Whitehall and Fort Ann as we skirted the southern edge of Adirondack State Park. These towns looked much like rural Vermont with high IRPs and many more abandoned houses than in Vermont. Then we hopped on Interstate 89 South through Glens Falls, Malta, Ballston Spa, Latham, and eventually to Colonie, location of our hotel. Urban sprawl characterizes much of the Albany area, whether it’s endless strip malls lining five-lane local routes or unvarying neighborhoods with quaint names [Retention Pond Estates, Scrawny Tree Manor, Wood Meadow Heights Lane] and no nearby town center. I found myself wondering how anyone escapes the strip malls or endless neighborhoods.

We arrived in the middle of the afternoon and did not want to stay in the hotel room. Instead we went to the Colonie Center, a megamall right across the street from the Travelodge. We wandered around Barnes and Noble. Because I hadn’t brought my phone, I pestered Lyra to take pictures of books that looked interesting so I could find them at a library and read them. I found a World’s Smallest Boggle board game, which Lyra said was too large for my 1:6 scale dolls, but which I bought anyway.

We ventured into the mall to Five Below, a store where prices are supposedly five dollars and below. Between the cheap cosmetics, the kawaii stationery, pends, and erasers, the charms for cell phones and backpacks, the extensive candy aisles, and the wide selection of blind box toys, the store clearly caters to kids between the ages of five and fifteen who want things that they consider cool, cute, and affordable. I think of it as analogous to the older staple of malls, Claire’s, although Claire’s focused more on jewelry and offered ear piercing. Nata introduced me to Five Below a few years ago when I visited her, and I like poking around there for fashion doll clothes or miniatures [often from blind boxes] suitable for 1:6 scale. Lyra did not know the glories of Five Below [because there are none in Vermont], so I introduced her. I got some Rainbow Brite branded fashion doll clothes for the dorklets.

For dinner, we went to Tanpopo Ramen in Albany. It was in a previously industrial section of the city with red-brick factories converted into loft apartments and restaurants in between boarded-up buildings not yet rehabilitated. With rust on its corrugated iron and old signs still hanging from its walls, this section of Albany reminded me of downtown Plattsburgh in which attempts at urban renewal coexist with urban decay.

We met Lyra’s cousin and ate salty, delicious ramen. I chose chicken for the protein and slurped it up with such gusto that it slopped on the front of my shirt. After driving through a spitting snow squall on our way into the city and shivering in our gelid, unwelcoming hotel room, we warmed up with our bowls of hot soup. The sake dilated our capillaries and gave us a superficial sense of warmth, but the ramen really made me feel warm from the inside out.

The next morning, we went to a diner in Latham. Though it was called 76 Diner and adorned out front with a picture of Colonial soldiers, it was founded in 1973, a fact that entertained me. This diner, though not an adapted diner car, nevertheless featured both a counter and booth seating. A plethora of mirrors framed in metallic finish reflected the glorious gardens of fake flowers in each window and along the top of the dividing wall separating booths from walkway. All booths had hanging lamps with stained glass shades mostly in golden brown with a floral pattern. The clank of silverware and clatter of dishes seemed to be the auditory equivalent of the bright flashes from mirrors and lampshades. It was so unironically old-fashioned and beautiful, in an over-the-top, joyful way, that I took a few pictures to immortalize a sense of its aesthetic obstreperousness.

Plus the food was good! Lyra and I both chose omelets containing lox, white onions, and cream cheese. The cream cheese melted enough to add moisture to the omelet coating, and the onions provided crunch, while the lox, of course, contributed some wonderful saltiness. We also had hash browns [fried potatoes] and toast, which for some reason always tastes very insubstantial at diners.

I discarded most thoughts of photostories when I arrived at the inhospitable hotel. I did, however, shoot some pictures of Ebru at the Latham 76 Diner keeping her teddy bear warm by wrapping it in her coat and pouring a lifesize packet of sugar into her doll-size coffee cup. This represented my most elaborate photostory effort of the trip.

To the Barbie exhibit at NYS Museum, Albany, NY: 03/13-03/15/2026!: Ebru packing

March 15, 2026 ModernWizard No Comments

Lyra and I took a quick road trip to Albany, NY, primarily to see an exhibit on Mattel Barbie dolls at the New York State Museum. Naturally I took a Barbie doll–Ebru. I packed a selection of props, and so did she, as we both thought that I would shoot elaborate photostories of her in the hotel and at the exhibit. However, the hotel proved so unhospitable and the exhibit so visually intense that my initial photostory of Ebru packing ended up being the most extensive one.

Otakuthon, 08/07/2025-08/09/2025: People watching!!!

August 9, 2025 ModernWizard No Comments

I saw many people whose clothes I admired. Otakuthon brings out people who want to see and be seen in clothes that they’re proud of, so people watching always proves a highlight of my convention. A selection of photos is below.

Here are some people wearing everyday clothes–no costumes. I love their street style!

The first person had wonderful flowy pleated green pants and elegant long yellow pumps plus fun patterned socks. I also appreciate people who go gray without coloring their hair. The second person coordinated their hair and their outfit like a fashion doll! The third person had a cute, playful design on their sweatshirt, and the fourth person reminded me of me in my twenties, although I never had rainbow hair. The fourth person had an amusing shirt and a great grin.

Otakuthon, 08/09/2025: Morning, Pine, dealer room again, lunch

August 9, 2025 ModernWizard No Comments

We got up later this morning than yesterday, about 8:00 am. I dressed in my new t-shirt. Lyra wore her Japanese yukata with wooden cat earrings and a new calico cat hair clip that she picked up from the dealer room yesterday. We braved the enduring hazy sunshine, with warmer and more humid air than yesterday.

Otakuthon, 08/08/2025: Dealer room

August 9, 2025 ModernWizard No Comments

I’ve put all my photos from the dealer room on August 8 in this separate entry.

Our fellow hordes flooded the dealer room on Friday, making navigation through the aisles difficult because clumps of people stopped dead right in the middle of the aisle, clogging everyone else up. The first time I went to the dealer room, I walked quickly, just trying to scope out what was there in the artists’ alley. Where possible, I went up one side of an aisle and down the opposite. I usually don’t pay much attention to the companies’ booths taking up the other half of the dealer room, but I was on the lookout for another t-shirt, so I did a speed run of that section. After hours of quick pacing on bare cement floors, my feet hurt. D:

Otakuthon, 08/08/2025: Chinatown, panels, etc.

August 9, 2025 ModernWizard No Comments

We rolled out of bed at about 7:00 am to another hazy, mild summer day. The temperature and humidity both mounted slightly compared to yesterday but remained bearable rather than sweltering.

Otakuthon, 08/07/2025: Travel, hotel, and 1:6ers being silly

August 8, 2025 ModernWizard No Comments

I decided to go to Otakuthon after all because I desperately needed a distraction and a vacation to someplace other than Colchester, where I live, Essex, where my parents live, and Burlington, where I work. Waking up bright and early at 6:45 AM as if I were going to work, I noticed that haze continued to linger from Canadian wildfires. It has been fuzzing up the air since Sunday, and I have to keep washing my face because my eyes gunk up. We have had so little wind since then that the leftovers from smoke remain in the air, obscuring the sun. It was alarmingly red as it shone into my bedroom this morning.

I packed up all my luggage in my wheeled luggage [shown] and my small backpack [not shown]. Only after dinner that day did I realize that I had packed sufficient underwear and shorts but only a single t-shirt! Anyway, Pine got all ready too.

I picked up gluten-free treats from West Meadow Farm Bakery in Essex, as customary. I got a sticky bun for me and a citrus poppyseed muffin for Lyra.

Otakuthon 2024: People in costume!

August 5, 2024 ModernWizard 1 Comment

I always love people watching at Otakuthon because I see people of all shapes, sizes, ages, colors, and abilities decked out in unusual clothes and showing themselves off. The creativity and confidence on display astounded me. Click on any photo to enlarge.

Otakuthon, 08/03/2024: BJD sales room

August 5, 2024 ModernWizard No Comments

We began Saturday with a panel reviewing the last two decades of Japanese street fashion. Like the presenter on Harajuku, the street fashion expert had way more material and photos than she could reasonably cram into 45 minutes. However, with her more relaxed, informal delivery and asides, she engaged the audience and entertained us a lot more than the presenter on Harajuku did.

Because the Dollfest meetup was not until Sunday afternoon, at which point we would be gone, we looked at the 1:00 PM Saturday BJD marketplace/salesroom as an alternative to the meetup. It really wasn’t. Sellers [including Lyra] laid items out on tables and watched as curious crowds filed through. Some sellers talked a bit to each other, but not a lot.

I picked up a dress for Toon Ethan from a seller’s free pile, so I got some shots of Toon Silence admiring him below. Click on pics to enlarge. I also got shots of a ball-jointed raven doll, a doll made by French dollmaker Mouton en Sucre and owned by Quebecois BJD fan Dejected Raven. The raven had four swappable heads, only two of which are shown here. I also got a shot of Lyra’s Smartdoll Infinity [in lime green at left] and Volks Lorina [in dark green dress at right]. There was also a beautiful Smartdoll Reflection owned by Caroline.

Otakuthon, 08/02/2024: Dolls being silly, Chinatown, hordes, and art purchases!!

August 4, 2024 ModernWizard No Comments

We had to pick up our Otakuthon badges in person on Friday morning because the US Postal Service changed regulations for items in bubble mailers containing badges with RFID chips, so the badges could not be mailed as planned. [Also Otakuthon did not get its shit together to mail the badges early enough.]

Otakuthon, Montreal, Quebec, Canada, 08/01/2024: “Warning: Canada ahead!”

August 4, 2024 ModernWizard No Comments

On the morning of August 1, Lyra drove from her side of the state to mine, arriving at my parents’ house at about 10:30 AM. From there we departed in the FLE car for Montreal!

The Travelodge, our cheap hotel of choice, required a three-night reservation. We decided to travel down on Thursday, August 1, and pass Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights, departing Sunday morning. We anticipated arriving on Montreal by lunchtime, early enough for us to go to a museum that afternoon. We also thought that we would do shabu shabu at Kagayaki on Thursday night before the anime hordes descended on Friday, the first day of the con.

I got smart this year and brought clothes hangers [to dry sweaty clothes before putting them in laundry], a garbage bag [to separate dirty clothes from clean], extras of everything [because I sweat a lot around this time of year], and my own towels. For dolls, I brought two 1:6 scale Hardshippers, Toon Silence and Toon Ethan. I was considering bringing just one, but I started to feel guilty. Because they are partners, I didn’t want to bring one without the other and make them unhappy to be separated!

I also got smart this year by checking beforehand how long the border crossing might take. The US customs and border patrol’s website conveniently lists each border crossing, how many of each lane [passenger, commercial, pedestrian] are open, how long the wait is, and if there are any warnings. When we left my parents’ house, I saw a ten-minute delay [i.e., a ten-minute wait at the border] for the Highgate Springs crossing, where we have always gone into Canada. We hoped that our luck would hold and that we would not have to wait long to cross.

As we got within yards of the border, we saw one of those portable highway signs that forms digital text with each letter made of different formations. It said WARNING: CANADA AHEAD! We thought that was hilarious, as to me it implies that Canada is a surprise or toxic or both.

We were also highly entertained by an infographic sign of a speed bump because Lyra had seen a Norwegian version online. Apparently the Norse word for speed bump is “fartshumper,” which is naturally funny to us Anglophones because it contains “farts,” a scatological term. We were just saying “fartshumper” and snickering.

Anyway, we cleared the border in 10 minutes, which was the quickest weekday border crossing I’ve ever experienced! Once in Canada, we experienced bumpier local routes and highways, but no problems entering Montreal, parking the car in the usual garage a block away [$30.00 Canadian a day], and checking into the hotel [room 201, right by the elevator].

We identified a new favorite food shop in Chinatown for lunch and all other snacks. Coco, a chain of patisseries [sometimes in conjunction with bubble tea shops], offers delicious Japanese and Chinese pastries and other sweets.

For lunch we got sesame buns with red bean paste in them, which are crunchy because of the sesame seeds, dense, chewy, and fatty because of the doughy bun parts, and sweet [but not too sweet] on the inside because of the red bean paste. We consider them the perfect blend of sugar, fat, and protein, the perfect addition to a meal. We also got onigiri, which is kind of a Japanese equivalent of a sandwich with a filling [I had spicy beef], rice for the equivalent of bread, and a seafood wrapper to keep the whole thing together.

Sturbridge Doll, Bear, and Miniature Show 06/03-06/05/2023

June 5, 2023 ModernWizard 1 Comment

Drove across the state to Lyrajean’s new condo on Saturday, June 3rd, and spent the night. We left very early on the 4th for Sturbridge, MA, and the doll/teddy/miniature show at the Sturbridge Host Hotel. We took about two and a half hours to get there. We turned around and had a late lunch on the way back and arrive around dinner time back at Lyrajean’s house.

Otakuthon, Montreal, Quebec, Canada, 08/06/2022: Doll tea party and the rest

August 6, 2022 ModernWizard 1 Comment

Next we went to the doll tea party, where we met up with some BJD lovers that we had seen at previous Otakuthons. Dolls are identified according to the order in which their photos appear in this post. Continue reading Otakuthon, Montreal, Quebec, Canada, 08/06/2022: Doll tea party and the rest

Otakuthon, Montreal, Quebec, Canada, 08/06/2022: Chinatown and Otakuthon dealer room again

August 6, 2022 ModernWizard 2 Comments

On the morning of the 6^th, we encountered low humidity and perfect temperatures [low 80s F] with sunshine again. We got up really honkin’ early at 6:00 AM and waited for the hotel breakfast to be served, where I ate hardboiled eggs, chocolate mini croissants, and melon. I organized the previous day’s photos until about 9:45 AM.

Thereupon I wandered into Chinatown. Continue reading Otakuthon, Montreal, Quebec, Canada, 08/06/2022: Chinatown and Otakuthon dealer room again

Otakuthon, Montreal, Quebec, Canada, 08/05/2022: Kagayaki and Nanami

August 5, 2022 ModernWizard 1 Comment

Right at 5 PM, we made our traditional pilgrimage to Kagayaki Shabu Shabu. I had the kombu and dashi essence broth, ponzu sauce [a citrus-flavored sauce], and lamb for my shabu shabu. Continue reading Otakuthon, Montreal, Quebec, Canada, 08/05/2022: Kagayaki and Nanami

Otakuthon, Montreal, Quebec, Canada, 08/05/2022: Hotel and dealer room

August 5, 2022 ModernWizard 1 Comment

Lyra and I left Essex, VT for Otakuthon early on Friday, August 5th. After a quick stop at West Meadow Farm for gluten-free bakery treats, I drove northward. With cloudy and occasional misty weather in Vermont, we encountered little traffic and made good time, crossing the border in a startling 35 minutes. From the border to Montreal, the clouds cleared, and the sun shone. Southern Quebec seems strangely flat in comparison to the rippling valleys of New England, and there are many more active farms with silos and grain elevators, neither of which are seen much in my state.

We arrived in Montreal around lunch time, checked in to our favorite hotel, the Travelodge on Boulevard Rene Levesque West, very early, and dropped our stuff in room 411. I think that, with the pandemic, people have temporarily curtailed their activities, so we saw few crowds, even in the city.

Usually we have arrived at Otakuthon in mid-afternoon on Friday, starting our days much later. This time, we enjoyed a leisurely start with a partial circuit of the vendor/dealer room. As usual, I spent most of my time in artist’s alley, chatting with artists whose work I was especially interested in. Pictures follow, mostly from booths where I bought stuff. Vendors show up in booth pics unless otherwise noted.Continue reading Otakuthon, Montreal, Quebec, Canada, 08/05/2022: Hotel and dealer room

Otakuthon DollFest, 08/05/2018: Back to the dealer room

August 5, 2018 ModernWizard No Comments

After cruising around Chinatown, I headed back to the dealer room just to see what I could see. I saw more dolls, doll stuff, and original art. Continue reading Otakuthon DollFest, 08/05/2018: Back to the dealer room

Otakuthon DollFest, 08/05/2018: Chinatown

August 5, 2018 ModernWizard No Comments

On Sunday morning, the last day of the con, I hung around Chinatown before Otakuthon opened at 10:00 AM. I took some pictures of this small, ethnically diverse neighborhood of comparatively poor people and cheap goods [including lots of delicious food] that is being relentlessly reduced by the rich forces of gentrification that have subsumed the rest of Centreville. Continue reading Otakuthon DollFest, 08/05/2018: Chinatown

Otakuthon DollFest, 08/04/2018: Dealer room, show and tell, Danny Choo, shabu shabu

August 5, 2018 ModernWizard No Comments

When I went out at around noon to appease the parking gods with another day’s offering, I saw a functional phone booth kitty-corner to our hotel. Continue reading Otakuthon DollFest, 08/04/2018: Dealer room, show and tell, Danny Choo, shabu shabu

Otakuthon DollFest, 08/04/2018: Saturday meetup

August 5, 2018 ModernWizard No Comments

Saturday morning we started the day with the DollFest meetup, where I assiduously chased around people until I got their names, the names of the doll sculpts, and the names of their doll makers. I enjoyed an excuse to talk to strangers and share our enthusiasm.
Continue reading Otakuthon DollFest, 08/04/2018: Saturday meetup

Otakuthon DollFest, Montreal, Quebec, 08/03/2018-08/05/2018: Friday travel and hotel, Saturday morning

August 5, 2018 ModernWizard No Comments

Bittersweet Blue, Lyrajean, and I traveled up to Montreal, Quebec, Canada on Friday morning for the BJD-related programming at Otakuthon. Continue reading Otakuthon DollFest, Montreal, Quebec, 08/03/2018-08/05/2018: Friday travel and hotel, Saturday morning

Otakuthon Dollathon, Montreal, Quebec, Canada, 08/04/2017-08/06/2017

August 9, 2017 ModernWizard No Comments

Lyrajean, Bittersweet Blue, and I drove up to the Palais de Congres in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, for Otakuthon, 08/04/2017-08/06/2017. Well, we mostly attended for the small amount of BJD programming, otherwise known as Dollathon.

Continue reading Otakuthon Dollathon, Montreal, Quebec, Canada, 08/04/2017-08/06/2017

NERDS Show, Lowell, MA, 03/05/2016: transactions and evaluation

March 6, 2016 ModernWizard No Comments

I attended the NERDS Show to meet fellow doll fans and new dolls. I hoped that I would sell some stuff, preferably enough to break even, and maybe find some doll stuff to buy, but I didn’t really expect to. I was therefore happily surprised to a) offload some stuff I didn’t want and b) acquire some stuff that I did.

In terms of riddances, I sold a Sleeping Elf/Tinybear Bon Bon [$125.00] and a fur wig [$5.00]. I got rid of a pair of Dikadoll jointed hands in a sale [$30.00] + partial trade [wig]. That was more than enough to cover the expense of table and room rental [$35.00], and I even got a small chunk of change to put toward taxes.

In terms of acquisitions, I picked up two freebies: a leotard and a sparkly overskirt. The second will work for Isabel, but the first may not be adequately modifiable for her, though it will certainly fit a narrower 1:6 scale doll. No pictures.

I took pictures of my more exciting acquisitions.

Continue reading NERDS Show, Lowell, MA, 03/05/2016: transactions and evaluation

NERDS Show, Lowell, MA, 03/05/2016: Sacred Stones Studio, LuckyXIII’s dolls

March 6, 2016 ModernWizard No Comments

The owners from Sacred Stones Studio in Connecticut were kind enough to give information about owner, maker, and sculpt for all their dolls, as well as credits for wigs, faceups, and outfits, not to mention character sketches for a significant number. Very entertaining! All information about Sacred Stones dolls comes directly from said signs.

Continue reading NERDS Show, Lowell, MA, 03/05/2016: Sacred Stones Studio, LuckyXIII’s dolls

NERDS Show, Lowell, MA, 03/05/2016: swap meet table, CatalystFlours, and Holy Calamity

March 6, 2016 ModernWizard No Comments

Lyrajean and I conveniently sat next to the most popular area of the show: the swap table. Besides things available for sale or trade, the swap table also held a bunch of dolls belonging to Missi. Continue reading NERDS Show, Lowell, MA, 03/05/2016: swap meet table, CatalystFlours, and Holy Calamity

NERDS Show, Lowell, MA, 03/05/2016: our table + Maverick and Madison’s

March 6, 2016 ModernWizard No Comments

Lyrajean and I started bright and early for Lowell, MA, yesterday, leaving my house at 7:00 AM for the long-awaited NERDS Show. I brought Yamarrah, not for sale, but to attract attention to the various clothes and small resin items I was selling. Lyrajean hauled along a few display peoples, but mostly a yard sale’s worth of furniture in various scales, as well as clothes she had made.

We traveled without incident until we approached Lowell. The city, which started off as a mill town, features densely packed, narrow streets, the lay-out complicated by canals and the Merrimack River. This lay-out probably worked fine before cars, but it’s a clusterfuck for automotive traffic. Because it’s so hemmed in by water, Lowell cannot easily expand its streets for the usual complement of cars + bikes + pedestrians, so it accommodates all modern-day travel by creating a labyrinth of one-way streets. Somehow this gets people where they’re supposed to go, but in a manner that is neither logical, nor expected, nor easily discernible by the casual visitor. Let’s just say we had some difficulty getting around in Lowell. Fortunately we had budgeted time for getting lost, so we arrived at the Western Ave. Studios before the show began.

But we made it! Western Ave. Studios, a previously light industrial space converted into a warren of artists’ studios, reminds me favorably of artists’ studios in the South End. The NERDS Show set up in the Onyx Room. Painted black, windowless except for a skylight, and strung with disco balls and paper lanterns, the Onyx Room looked like a great place for a dance party or theater in the round. Round display tables, where people could show off their dolls, were distributed in the entry way, while about ten rectangular vendor tables, including ours, lined the inside perimeter. Some clusters of upholstered chairs in the center provided a space for mini meetups. Right by the off-street parking, the bathrooms, and all the studios participating in the Western Ave. Studios’ open studios event that day, the Onyx Room was optimally situated to attract not just doll enthusiasts, but also people who came for the open studios. In short, the Onyx Room proved the best possible place to have the show, with the sole reservation being that the lack of natural light made photos a challenge.

Lyrajean and I set up our wares all over our table. Good thing I had much less stuff than she, as her stuff was literally stacked in layers. As I have never staffed a vendor table, I did not know what to bring beyond my goods, my tablet computer [in case people wanted to use Paypal], cash, and my camera + memory card, of course. Thus I tossed in paper, pens, plastic bags, tent cards, an extension cord, water bottle, snacks, painkillers [as I fell on the ice last week and banged an unpadded part of my ass], even my cell phone [which usually never leaves my house]. That seemed to be a comprehensive array of supplies, although, in future, I will also bring hand cream and a snot rag. I will also eat a substantial lunch [not a bag of Deep River rosemary and olive oil chips, however delicious they may be] before the event starts.

I set up Yamarrah on Jareth’s “crotch stand” [i.e., a stand of adjustable height with a U-shaped clip that a doll can situate their crotch in] with one her favorite creemees to attract attention. As Lyrajean observed, she did a very good job of it. Her bright and unusual styling caught the eye of passersby, as did the fact that she was standing up in a naturalistic position. Anyway, I have decided to acquire more “crotch stands” for my 1:3 scale BJDs. They’ve been sitting around [literally] for years and years, as I’ve always been worried that standing them without support would lead to shelf dives, but they just look so much cooler when upright occasionally!

Continue reading NERDS Show, Lowell, MA, 03/05/2016: our table + Maverick and Madison’s

Dollism Plus: ephemera

March 1, 2015 ModernWizard No Comments

I finally got around to scanning some of the Dollism Plus 2014 ephemera that’s been sitting on my floor for about six months…. In no particular order, here are the results from my crappy scanner.

Continue reading Dollism Plus: ephemera

Dollism Plus: booty

September 25, 2014 ModernWizard No Comments

Janna’s and my registrations got us bags with the Dollism logo, in which we found some of the stuff below, including badges, advertising postcards, socks from Ruby Red Galleria, etc.
Continue reading Dollism Plus: booty

Dollism Plus, 09/20/2014, after lunch: a little bit more of everything

September 25, 2014 ModernWizard No Comments

After lunch on the 20th, I began at the1:3 scale ramen restaurant set, apparently a smaller version of an actual Toronto, Ontario eatery. Supplied by Doll North, a Canadian doll convention, the ramen shop had legible menus, bowls of ramen and minibar liquor bottles for booze. Sadly, none of my pictures with Timonium in this set came out, but some other doll lovers let me photo their dolls in the restaurant.

Continue reading Dollism Plus, 09/20/2014, after lunch: a little bit more of everything

Dollism Plus, 09/20/2014, before lunch II: raffle dolls, dealers and robots

September 24, 2014 ModernWizard No Comments

For my next photography session in the dealer room, I took pictures of some items donated for the charity raffle, proceeds of which benefitted the Humane Society of the United States. The raffle doll I most wanted to see, a fullset Loongsoul Gong Gong God of Water with an impressively long sea serpent tail, hid out safely in his box, so I consoled myself with shots of other interesting options.

Continue reading Dollism Plus, 09/20/2014, before lunch II: raffle dolls, dealers and robots

Dollism Plus, 09/20/2014, before lunch I: dealers and dioramas

September 23, 2014 ModernWizard No Comments

Saturday, our only full day at the convention, I hit the registration booth shortly after 9:30 AM [and the opening of the dealer room for the day]. Who should I meet there but fellow Vermont Doll Lovers member Lyrajean [not pictured], who handed me my badge and swag bag?

Continue reading Dollism Plus, 09/20/2014, before lunch I: dealers and dioramas

Dollism Plus, Buffalo, NY, 09/19/2014: photos from room sales

September 23, 2014 ModernWizard No Comments

Janna and I, with Araminthe and Timonium in tow, drove to Buffalo, NY, this past weekend for the BJD convention I’ve been anticipating for months: Dollism. With no expensive BJD projects in the offing, I attended the convention with very little spending money and the goal of taking as many photos as possible.

We arrived at the Hyatt Regency on Friday evening, exhausted, after a desperately tedious drive across the entire Empire State. We missed all the workshops and dealer booths for that day. However, room sales — individual attendees and dealers selling things out of their hotel rooms — were going on, so I grabbed my camera, my business cards and Timonium, then ventured forth to acquire photos. I always asked before snapping away, and everyone graciously consented to have photos of their dolls taken.

Continue reading Dollism Plus, Buffalo, NY, 09/19/2014: photos from room sales

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